Preheating furnace



July 5 1932. POWERS 1,865,954

PREHEATING FURNACE Filed Jan. 8, 1931 Ego P 73546.

Patented July 5,1932 I V i I UNITED srATEsyA ENT 3 m r-f v Application filed January 8, 1931. Serial n. 507,403.

My invention relates to a preheating furpendently one of the other. A- detailed feanace for heating billets or ingots.) 1 ture of; the pusher. rods is their arrangement An object of my invention is in connection with a hooked or notched end, which prowith a positive feed for the billets or ingots vides prongs to engage roundbillets or ingots in the furnace, especially adjacent the disfor rolling these, or to engagethe edge of. 55 charge end thereof, by which .the ingots or square or rectangular billets to give these a billets are given a roll or turn, the billets or turn in their forward movement in the fur ingots near the discharge door being forced I nace. f

outwardly and allowing the remaining series Another feature of my invention relates to 10' of billets to move forward slightly in the prethe cooling of the furnace and of the pusher on heating furnace. In furnaces of my characrods, in that the tracks are water cooled. The 1 teristic there is preferably a slight slope, supports for the tracks'are also water cooled, I with rails or tracks on which the billets mayand the pusher rods are provided with awater' roll or be thrust downwardly towards the discirculation system, thus maintaining these 1'6 charge end or side of the furnace. comparatively cool. The furnace is prefer Ina furnace of this type another object ably heated by gas-or oil flames, and as part and feature of my invention-is the employof the track is open the billets receive a uniment of nubs or abutments in the track which form heating throughout. 7 I

wil stop the rolling of the billets; While My invention is illustrated inconnectionsuch nubs are sufficient to hold the series of with the accompanying drawing, in which:

I billets from rolling forwardly, the billets Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the fur.- I

may be readily forced over these nubs by my 'nace; v g feeding mechanism. I preferably arrange Fig. 2 isan end elevation taken in thedi-Z; one of these nubs adjacent the discharge end rection of the arrow 2 of Fig. 1, the furnace of the furnace, and another some little disbeing shown open; a I tance therefrom, and between these nubs I Fig. 3 is'an end elevation of one of the" employ a series of feeding or forwarding depusher rods and its connection, taken in the vices such devices raising the billets over direction of the arrow 3 of Fig. 4, with parts the nubs and allowing their further rolling broken away;

' action. j Fig. .4: is a side elevation of Fig. 3, taken Another object and feature of my invenin the direction of the arrow 4. tion is in the feedingor forwarding mecha- Fig. 5 is a detail longitudinal section il-f nism, this having a series of vertically -movlustrating the action of the pusherbars on, able rods, these rods operating in guides and rectangular section billets. q engaging the billetsslightly on one-side of In constructing the furnace I employ a each billet, so that on each rod in succession brickwork-floorconstruction 1 1 adjacentthe: being elevated the billets are slightly tilted discharge end 12 of the .furnace, a floor secand at the same time rolled forward toward tion 13 adjacent the feeding end 14 ofthat the discharge end of the furnace. These furnace, and a brickwork floor panel 15, vertically moving rods are sufficient to rollithere being a considerable space 16 above the billets over the abutment nubs to'continue this floor panel, in which there is a series their movement lengthwise of the furnace. of supporting postsfli', these supporting part, Another detailed feature of these movable of the track 18, the remaining sections ofthe rods for shifting the billets is that each rod "track being supported on the brickwork of. may be connected by a connecting rod or the the floor sections ll and 13. The furnace'is like to a common crank-shaft and such shaft provided with a plurality of arches, there be driven by a motoror the; equivalent. In being an arch l9adjacent the in-feeding end this construction I prefer, also,to use a clutch and an arch 20 adjacent the dischargegend. arrangement, so that one or ;more seriesof A series of nozzles 21 discharge through the 'these pusher rods may be"actuated' inde-f arch 19 downwardlyon the in-feedingbil these being connected to headers 26; iThe;

billets indicated at 27 are illustrated as being cylindrical and roll downwardly on "the tracks 18, these having a slightslope towards I the discharge end. The slope, however, is

quite slight, so that these billets may be stopped'by a first pairof abutment nubs 28 outhe tracks and also by a second pair 29 adiacent the discharge end ofthe furnace to This construction of these two sets of nubs gives a positive stop to the billets and allows them to be fed out of the furnace one by one, and also to be delayed at the upper nubs 28. "The brickwork structure 11 is provided with a series of vertical guideways 30, and in these guideways reciprocate pusher rods 31. These rods for the major portion are formed tubulan' having a tube 32 screw threaded to asoli-d lower end portion 33, and

V having a point or tip 34 atthe top. It will benoted that such tips have a pair of prongs 35' and 36 with a notch 37 therebetween. A water circulation pipe 38 is secured in the sol d section '33 and has its open upper end d scharging against the tip. 34. This is fed byfwater from the water hose 3'9", flowing through the elbow 40 and the nipple 41 i'nto I 7 the lower end of the pipe 38. The water is discharged through a similar-connection 42 at the opposite side, this being connected to the tube 32 and a flexible discharge hose 43. The flared bottom of the 'guideways 30 accommodates the flexible water hose 39 and 43 during the reciprocation of the pusher p I Each of the pu'sher rods is pivotally' attached to a connecting rod 44 by the pivot pins 45, and such connecting rods have journals 46 for connecting. to the cranks 47 of' 'the crank shafts 48 or .49. These crankshafts are supported in journals 50 mounted on V-sha'ped frames 51,'and there is a drive gear 52 for-the shaft'48 and a drive gear 53 for the shaft 49. The drive is from an V electric motor 54, which has a motor shaft ca of=myfurnaceissubstantially as follows:

The

action gives a verticalreciprocating motion to the upper set of pusher rods. These rods reciprocatevertically, and the prongs on the tip. engage the billets slightly on the in-feed- 'ing side of the furnace. These rods tend to partly lift the billets and vic'auseeach billet n succession to bepllshed over the nub 28. and rolled downwardly towards the second nub 29. Manifestly,'bystoppingthe motor or by shifting the pinion out'of mesh with eitherof the gears ,52 or 53, the billets'remain stationary. NVhen it is desired to discharge the billets thejpinion 56- isbrought into; mesh with the gear 52, operating the crank-shaft 48 which pushes the billet at the discharge end over the abutment hub 29, allowing this to roll out of the furnace and the next billet to rolldownwardlyagainst :such nub, By manipulation ofthe pusher rods, therefore, the billets may be discharged-at the desired rateafter proper heating. It will be noted by my. furnace construction that the billets are rotated so that allsides are exposed to the heating flames, and also on account of. the burners .24 being below the billets they are thoroughly heated on the lowerportions. On

account of the pusher rods being cooled by the watercirculation there is no .dangerof over heating. It is quite obvious that this type of furnace and pusher rod feed maybe adapted forsquare or rectangular billets, in

which case, however, these'billets are usually thrust forwardly from. -the in-feed'ing end until-they contact with the upper nub 28.

V The pusher rods then are designed to engage. these billets and turntheni over 'onthe edge nearest the dischargeqpartf of the furnace,

raising the billets over the-nub 28 and turnlbs ing these in their path towards the nub 29,

and finally turning andthrusting the billets out ofthe'furnace. v Y Y 1 V In the detailedconstruction of the pusher rodsand their guides, I employ pipes 60 embedded in the brick work- .11 of thefloor section, These pipes have an outwardly cone shaped section 61 atthe bottom, this prov-id ing a-guidance for the pusher rods in their reciprocating motion. The pusher rods are connected to; the'connectingrod 44 by employing a socket 62; (note Figs. 3 and 4):;

This socket has a tongue- 63 extending down wardly, and'apair ofears 64 on thecranks fit on opposite sides ofthe tongueand are secured-by the bolt45 I j a p In the construction of Fig.5 I illustrateother remote therefrom,'said nubs stopping a rectangular shaped billet 66 in which the pusher rod in its lifting movement engages the block and tilts it on the corner 67. This gives the billet a quarter turn, and thus exposes a difierent portion of the billet to the heat of the furnace as well as advancing the billet in the furnace.

the movement of the billets two reciproca ing pusher rods, means to guide said rods in a straight line reciprocating motion substan tially transverse to the track, one adjacent each nub, means to operate said rods, one.

independent of the other, each rod being adapted to engage one billet at a time and to shift said billet over the abutment nub ad-' jacent thereto toward the discharge end.

2. A furnace having a runway for billets from a feeding to a discharge end of a furnace, a plurality of abutment nubs, one being positioned adjacent the discharge end and the other remote therefrom to stop the movement of the billets, a plurality of vertically reciprocating pusher rods each operative adjacent a nub and on the feeding end side thereof, means to guide each of the rods in a vertically reciprocating motion, means to actuate said rods one independent of the other, each rod being adapted to engage a billet stopped by the adjacent nub and to shift such billet over the nub toward the discharge end of the furnace.

3. A furnace as claimed in claim 2, additional reciprocating rods with means to guide said rods in a vertical movement, said latter rods operating between the abutments to move the billets from one of the nubs remote from the discharge end toward the discharge 7 other vertical]. reci rocatin ousher rods the rods adjacent thenubs being adapted to engage a billet one at. a time and to shift such billet over the adjacent nub, and the second rods being adapted to engage the billets between the nubs and to shift said billets towardthe discharge end of the furnace.

vertically.reciprocatingpusher rod having'a 'guideivay in a refractory constructlon adja-" such billet past saidnub.

;5,. -A furnaceasclaimed in claim 4, afdrivsing. connection for operatingv at least two of. the adjacent pusher rodsindependently of, V the other two.

'G A furace having a runway for billets from-a feeding to a dischargeiend, a plurality of arches oneadjacent the feeding and the other adjacent, the discharge end, means to discharge heating medium on the upper portion of the billetsufrom each archway, the

said runway being'open in part underneath and having a third heat applying medium therein toheat the under side of the billets, a;

cent the discharge end, said rod being adapted to engage one billet at a time and tooshift i it towarc the discharge end of the furnace.

.7. A furnace having a downwardly in-- clined runway comprising a plurality of parallel smooth surfaced railsfrom a-feed-- ingto a discharge end, anub in therunway extending upwardly above the surface of the mile, a vertically reciprocating pusher rod on; the upper side of the nub, means to 'guideisaid rod and to reciprocate the rod in verticalfn o:

tion to en age one billet at a time and shifting 8. A furnace'as claimedin claim 7, the pusher rod having, a hollow section with means; to circulatewater through such sec,- tion, sai'd means permitting the vertical reciprocation of the rod and continuing the circulation during such reciprocation.

9. A furnacehaving a downwardly sloping runway comprising a plurality of parallel smooth surfaced rails, 'a'plurality of nubs positioned in the runway and extending upwardly above the surface of the "rails, said 7 nubs being positioned at differentdistances 1 along the runway, 'a plurality ofreciprocating pusher rods, vertical guideways for said rods, said pusher rodsbeing positioned on the upper side of the nubs and operating between the tracks, and means to reciprocate said rods to engage billets and to feed same one at a. time past said nubs.

10. A furnace as claimed in claim 9, said furnace having two arches, one being adjav cent the discharge endabove the tracks, means 1. to discharge a heating medium downwardly from each of the arches from the side adj acent the discharge onto the billets, the furnace 1 havingan open construction below the tracks arches, and a third means for injecting a heating medium from'the open construction upwardly on the billets.

11. In a furnace having a track for billets, a vertical reciprocating pusher rod with ver-' tical guides for said rod, the rod being formed with an outer tube and an inner water circu lating pipe'open at the top, a flexible water hose connected to the bottom of the pipe and to the bottom of the tube, said guide means providing space to accommodate said hose,

a crank shaft having a connecting rod con;

nected thereto and to the lower part of the rod.

' 12. A furnace having a-runway for billets comprising a plurality of downwardly inclined smooth surfaced tracks, the furnace having a pair of arches above the tracks and an Open construction below the tracks substantially adjacent the junction line of the arches, means to project a heating medium from the arches downwardly on the billets. and from the open construction upwardly on Y a the billets, the runway having a plurality of 'nubs extending above the tracks, a plurality of vertical guideways between the tracks and spaced longitudinally thereof, there being an open space below said guideways with a longitudinally' extending crank shaft, each with b a connecting rod and a vertically reciprocating pusher rod in each guideway operative by each connecting rod, the pusher rods being positioned to, engage billets adjacent the nubs and advance same over the nubs, said pusher rods being hollow and having means for cir- V 'culating water therethrough.

13. In a furnace having a runway for V billets, a vertically reciprocating'pusher rod, I with means to reciprocatesaid rod vertically,

said rod being formed with an outer tube and an inner water circulating pipe extending upwardly through the tube, means to connect a water supply service at the lower end of the pipe and the lower end'of the tube, there being an annular space for water cooling between the pipe and thetube, the rod having tips at it5-upper end comprising an upper and a lower prong,the upper prong being larger than the lower prongwith a notch between said prongs.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification. a

THOMAS POWERS. 

